


After Hours

by miss_Splendora



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Cecil is Lonely, Friendship, Gen, Headcanon, So there may be some angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-14
Updated: 2015-01-14
Packaged: 2018-03-07 14:34:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3176156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_Splendora/pseuds/miss_Splendora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cecil is glad Intern Dana is there for him when he needs company. It's good to finally have a friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After Hours

**Author's Note:**

> A gift for Tumblr user elphabanana who wanted to see Cecil and Dana be friends.

“Goodnight, Night Vale. Goodnight.”

Cecil turned off his microphone, leaned back in his chair and relaxed. He loved this part of the day. He’d been at the station the whole day and it has all led his to this point in time and space. He’d done his job and his part for the community and now he could just relax until the next day, when he could start being a good member of the society again. There was nothing he found quite as satisfying as the moment where he could put his feet up – metaphorically, of course, he quickly thought in case the station management was listening to his thoughts at the moment and was worried he would actually be putting his feet on the radio equipment and damaging it or something like that. He had nowhere to be until the next morning and he could unwind. He could do anything he wanted with anyone he wanted until the next day.

So what could he do tonight?

He left his booth and thought about his options. It was too late for bowling, and his league hasn’t played a game in ages, anyway. Did he even still have a league? He wasn’t certain.

He could go home and think about Carlos. That was how he usually spent his nights these days. Perfect Carlos and his strong jaw and beautiful hair. Pleasant enough, theoretically. On the other hand, this idea suddenly made him feel very tired and alone. He didn’t want to feel tired and alone tonight. He felt good about himself, and thinking about Carlos and not being with Carlos had the disadvantage of desperately wanting Carlos to suddenly materialize next to him, preferably shirtless already, and do things that were less than respectable, and he agreed to keep his distance some time ago.

What else did he like to do? He could… Watch Jaws again, maybe? He had the unfinished fanfiction shelved and maybe watching the movie would push him to finally finishing it? Then again, that sounded like _work_. He didn’t want to work tonight, and he didn’t really want to watch Jaws by himself.

He didn’t want to be by himself, he realized, as he walked along the corridor. So who could he call? His sister? No, that would mean acknowledging Steve Carlsberg and would probably lead to another argument. He had no energy for that tonight.

He passed the break room. Intern Dana (or her double?) was there, chatting with the new guy whose name he hadn’t learned yet. Of course! Intern Dana!

“Intern Dana!” he said cheerfully and entered the break room. “I’m glad to see you’re still here! Would you care to join me for a drink tonight? We could celebrate another successful broadcast and whole 3 days without casualties in the line of community radio duty!”

Intern Dana looked up from her mug at Cecil and seemed to be thinking about it. Finally, she smiled.

“Sure, why not, Cecil. Meet me by the door in five?”

“Great! See you then!”

Cecil left the break room and took out his pocket knife to open the door to the station.

He almost forgot about Intern Dana! She had been with the station for a while now and he really liked her. She was incredibly smart and resourceful and brave. She had this air of importance to her and Cecil liked her almost immediately. He didn’t usually befriend the station interns but Dana was something else altogether. She was going places, Cecil knew, and not the graveyard in the break room, either! It was so refreshing to have a friendly face around, someone he could go out with for a friendly chat over some martinis or something. He missed having proper friends sometimes, but his radio duties kept him so busy all the time. With Dana around, he did not have to compromise, it was a perfect situation.

So he waited for her by the door. Everything seemed to be working out for him, finally. It was going to be a good night.

* * *

“You’re having a drink with Cecil?” asked the new guy, Richard. “What’s that about?”

“No idea,” Dana shrugged.

“So is it like a date? Are you trying to seduce the boss to get ahead? I thought he was gay.”

“It’s not like that,” she protested as she washed her mug. “I don’t know what that is. We barely exchanged two sentences that were not connected with official community radio business until now.”

“So why are you going?”

“I don’t exactly want to say no to a guy who will send me to do all the life‑threatening tasks if he decides he doesn’t like me, after all, do I?”

Richard laughed. “I guess not!”

“He’s a weirdo and gets all existential without a moment’s notice but I’ll take a weird night out over being sent to interview a hooded figure and never being heard from again, you know?”

Richard nodded.

“Good luck!” he said as Dana left the break room. She was kind of nervous to approach Cecil by the door. She put on her best smile as she saw him standing there with his knife already out.

She was hoping her work day had already ended but you can’t always get what you want when you’re interning. If only she’d left before he saw her! It was going to be a long night.

**Author's Note:**

> This is close to my personal headcanon in which Cecil and Dana weren't really that close before she got stuck in the dog park. 
> 
> Unbeta'd so if you see any glaring grammar errors, typos, or have any constructive criticism - I'll highly appreciate it!


End file.
